I'm Glad to Hear That:
Listening, Learning and Lending in the Language Arts 10 Curriculum

Maureen Braun, Jan Duncan, Marlyn Keaschuk, Greg Trithart and Bonita Tucker

Each of the five teachers involved in this project implemented English A10 and B10 (Core) in the Herbert School Division during the 1997-98 school year. All of them were working to adapt their teaching practice to the new emphasis on oracy within the 1997 English Language Arts Curriculum. One teacher explained:

The concept of teaching listening specifically gave me a reality check, as I never considered whether the quiet students with their faces pointed forward were actually comprehending. They fooled me if they appeared to be on task. Then I began to notice how few adults in the community actually listen....I certainly realize now the need to teach listening skills in the school and note taking skills that are the partner to listening.

At monthly meetings, the teachers began to carry out action research related to the teaching of oracy. At each meeting, they studied five teaching strategies or activities related to oracy from the provincial curriculum or other instructional resources. After discussing the strategies, they selected two for incorporation into their English 10 classrooms in Central Butte, Morse, Herbert, Hodgeville and Chaplin. At the next meeting, they would share their observations about the effectiveness of each strategy and assess its value in meeting the needs of students in rural schools. The assessment of oracy was a problem with which the group struggled, sharing ideas and feedback to help each other make inroads into this difficult area.

Rural schools were defined by only two criteria: small class sizes (less than 25 students) and restricted access to a choice of school (only one school in the community to choose from at any grade level). In schools that met these criteria, the teachers believed that students were likely to be more familiar with each other than students in larger centres. Also, teachers were likely to face the challenges presented by limited resources and multi-graded classrooms, as well as the opportunities presented by small class sizes and a commonality of experience in the students.

The research group believed that English teachers in rural schools had special problems to overcome as the province moved from a literature-based to a language-based English curriculum in which the importance of oracy was more clearly recognized. Among the problems identified were a lack of resources, a lack of technical equipment, the established roles and behaviours in classes of students who know each other well, the diversity of learning levels and abilities among students, teacher isolation, and heavy teacher workloads.

Although the project was intended to develop supports for the teaching of oracy, however, the group soon found that the network they had formed was a major revelation in itself:

One of the themes that we have come back to again and again is the value of the network that has been developed among the group....In a rural division such as ours, where the numbers in any subject area are limited, and subject inservice is limited to curriculum implementation or the yearly subject council conference, the network may be the only professional development affordable or possible. The benefit for the teachers involved is that they control the agenda, which is not necessarily the case in department-mandated inservice sessions. When you bring together teachers from four divisions to introduce new curriculum, there will be a group of teachers ranging from the recently graduated beginner who is teaching outside of his subject area in a small rural school to the expert specialist who teaches nothing but English 10 in the large urban comprehensive school. The inservice provided will have to be addressed to all of them and will satisfy none. Smaller groups like ours, with careful planning, can accomplish a great deal with the combined knowledge of all involved.

A bibliography and ten successful oracy activities identified by the group are appended to their final report.

My Grade Tens were giving me a friendly grilling about how I had spent my Christmas holidays. I mentioned that one of their former teachers had stopped in Morse for a visit and spent the last two days of the holidays at my house. One of the Grade Tens immediately replied, "Cool! How long did he stay?" We did more listening exercises.